Side dish: Go down the Rabbit Hole

By May or June, we'll all go down The Rabbit Hole Dinner and Drinks (101 N. Tejon St.).

You formerly knew the underground spot on East Kiowa Street as the Metropolitain, and new proprietor Joseph Campana was part of the Met's original partnership. Now, with a silent partner, he says it's nice to return as the main decision-maker to run the space that he had an active role in designing: "I knew all along I wanted to come back ... I was just waiting for the right time," he says.

Campana brings 20 years of restaurant experience (10 in cooking), including nine years at Phantom Canyon Brewing Co. and recent weekend bartending work at McCabe's Tavern, though he'll name a chef soon. Expect a "reasonably priced" small- to medium-plate menu featuring Colorado items as much as possible, including local wines, beer, buffalo and elk, as well as vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free items.

More exciting: That menu will be served in full until 1:30 a.m. daily. Campana, who's not serving lunch, believes the late hours, combined with new lighting to make the street entrance more visible, will make the difference in this outfit succeeding.

Hooked on a Feelin'

You've gotta love the name: Feelin' A-Little Philly.

Newbie restaurateur Art Clingingsmith at the 2750 S. Academy Blvd., #110 location (392-5004) can't take credit for it; his friends in Pueblo have opened two stores (1111 S. Prairie Ave., 1080 Eagleridge Blvd.) with the same name and menu within the past few years. Kindly enough, though, they let him open his own in late February at no cost. (All are owned independently.)

Though the menu also sports burgers, Italian sandwiches, Tastykakes and more, the Philly cheese steak, of course, stars. Clingingsmith makes 6-, 8- and 12-inch versions ($3.95 to $6.95) as classic as possible with Philly-made Amoroso's bread, pre-seasoned meats cut from a block (something like a gyro log) and traditional topping options like onions, cheese and bell peppers.

He claims that Philly natives have told him that his sandwich is the closest to home.

À la carte

• The Craftwood Inn (404 El Paso Blvd., Manitou Springs, craftwood.com) will launch a new summer menu on April 18, featuring everything from frog legs and rattlesnake to marlin and antelope — all creatively dressed.

• Extraordinary Ingredients (612 N. Tejon St., 473-8270), vowing to return in a non-retail form soon, will close on April 30; until then, get 30 percent off remaining inventory.

• According to owner Abdul Nasser, Taste of Jerusalem Café (15 E. Bijou St., tasteofjerusalemcafe.com) will open a second location in the former Wild Wings at 2810 S. Academy Blvd., #150, tentatively around mid-May. He says to expect menu additions at both stores at that time.